Auburn-FSU Only Gets 9th-Highest Rating in BCS Championship Game History

7 Jan 2014

Monday’s title game between Florida State and Auburn drew a 15.3 overnight rating on ESPN, which was “tied for ninth in the 16-year BCS championship history.”

According to AL.com, “Six of the nine lowest-rated games in BCS championship history occurred since 2008. Monday’s dramatic championship game was barely better than Alabama’s blowout of Notre Dame last year (15.1 rating).”

As a testament to how valuable the South is to ESPN, “Birmingham led all markets for the telecast with a 55.8 rating, which was the third highest-rated bowl game on ESPN in Birmingham behind the 2011 and 2012 BCS championships won by Auburn and Alabama, respectively. Jacksonville was the No. 2 market (31.1 rating), followed by Knoxville (26.6), Atlanta (25.8), Orlando (24.9), Tampa-St. Petersburg (24.2), Memphis (24.1), Greenville, S.C. (24.0), Nashville (23.5) and Charlotte (22.2).”